Jocondus, John

, an eminent antiquary, architect, and critic, was probably a native of
| Verona, and flourished in the sixteenth century. He was
of the order of the Dominicans, but in his travels, and during his scientific labours, wore the habit of a secular priest.
When at Rome, where he was first known as an architect,
he began to apply to the study of classical antiquities, and
made a judicious collection of inscriptions, which he dedicated to Lorenzo de Medici. He was some time at the
court of the emperor Maximilian I. and thence went to
France about 1500, where Louis X. appointed him royal
architect. He built at Paris two bridges over the Seine,
that of Notre Dame, and the little bridge. In the mean
time, while he had leisure, he employed it in examining
ancient manuscripts, and had the felicity to recover all the
letters of Pliny the younger, and the work of Julius Obsequens on prodigies. These he arranged for publication,
and sent them to Aldus Manutius, by whom they were
both printed in 1508, 8vo. He also collated several other
classics, and illustrated Caesar’s Commentaries by useful
notes and figures, and was the first to give a design of the
famous bridge which Caesar built across the Rhine. On
his return to Italy, he edited the fine edition of Vitruvius,
printed by Aldus in 1511, and enriched it with designs.
When the famous bridge the Rialto was burnt down in
1513, he gave a magnificent design for a new one; but
that of an inferior architect being preferred, he quitted
Venice, and went to Rome, where, after the death of
Bramante, he was employed on St. Peter’s church. His
last work was the bridge over the Adige, at Verona, which
he built in 1520: He died about 1530, at a very advanced
age. 1

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